FIC: Of Human Bonding [3/2] - A Long Way To Mars

["hd_genscher" <HD.Genscher@xxxxxx>]

Thanks to everyone who gave me feedback on the first two parts. Here's
the (unplanned) third part...


TITLE: Of Human Bonding - A Long Way To Mars
AUTHOR: HD_Genscher (hd.genscher@xxxxxx)
RATING: PG-13
PAIRING: B/W
SPOILERS: none
DISCLAIMER: All characters and places belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant
Enemy, et al.
ARCHIVE: HD's Fan Fiction Archive, http://www.u34.de/hdffa/ . If you
want it too: take it!
FEEDBACK: If you liked it, I'll appreciate your feedback. And if you
didn't like it, it'll help me a lot if you point out what I did wrong.
DEDICATED TO: all the courageous men and women risking their lives as
astronauts. Terra vos respuet et recipit.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: 'Terra nos respuet' ('The Earth spits us back') is from
"Shadow Watch" by Tom Clancy and Martin Greenberg.

---

OF HUMAN BONDING:

A LONG WAY TO MARS


Who else but a warrior was suited to go to Mars, the planet named
after the Roman god of war? And there was no better warrior in the
whole world than Buffy Summers, the former Slayer, her fellow
astronaut and lover, Willow Rosenberg thought as she experiencedly
checked the displays in the cockpit of her spaceship and wrote down a
couple of readings into her personal mission log. Of course, all
important parameters of the ship's voyage and internal status were
constantly checked and recorded by the ship's twin computers, but
Willow enjoyed upholding the old seafarers' tradition of *writing* a
log.
As far as 'her ship' was concerned...although she used to talk and
think about it that way, the Wizard of Oz wasn't exactly *her*
spaceship, more like NASA's or the American people's spaceship, but
she was commanding it and the Mars Mission, risking her life to go to
the red planet--and that, Willow thought, gave her enough authority to
think of it as *her* ship.

The redhead hit a button on a panel left to her. "It's one small step
for man, but a giant leap for mankind." The famous words that Neil
Armstrong had spoken when he sat foot on the moon half a decade ago
filled the spaceship's cockpit.

"Hey, Will, what are you doing?" asked Buffy, who had floated over
from the habitation section of the ship. The blonde took hold of one
of the many straps that NASA's engineers had placed everywhere around
to prevent someone from floating into the instrument panels or
equipment bays, and elegantly came to a standstill behind Willow's
seat.

"Buffy Summers! You know exactly you're not supposed to sneak up on me
like this!" Willow exclaimed and looked at her crewmate sternly.

"Sorry, Commander," Buffy answered, emphasizing Willow's rank, and
grinned. "So, what are you doing?" she asked again. "Once more
contemplating about what to say when you become the first woman on
Mars?"

"Mmmh..." Willow muttered, and continued to chew on her pencil. "I
just don't know what would be...appropriate. This isn't just a
once-in-a-lifetime thingy, it's a once-in-history thingy," she pointed
out. "And the best I've come up with so far is 'Terra nos respuet.
Mars, Hellmouth, all ours!'"

"Hmmm... I believe that won't look well in the history books. A little
too exotic, don't you think?" the blonde commented.

"That doesn't sound very supportive." Willow replied with a pout. "But
I'm not happy with it either. If it were up to me, I'd say something
else." She turned the seat around to face her lover. "Considering that
fact that the whole world will be watching this event, I'd like to use
the opportunity to tell everyone that I'm in love with the most
beautiful, sexy girl astronaut in the world."

"Who's the lucky girl?" Buffy asked teasingly, acting as if she had
heard this for the first time.

"It's you, silly."

Both fell silent.

"Would you really do it, even if NASA would condemn you for it?" Buffy
then asked.

"I could, you know, encode the message..." Willow paused to think.
"Like 'Affectionate bewail lure mule way.'"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's an anagram for 'Buffy et Willow, amiculae aeternae'," Willow
explained, turned her seat to the instrument panel in front of her
again and pressed one of the multifunction display's buttons.

Buffy giggled.

"Buffy and Willow, girlfriends forever," she translated. "And I can't
believe I know Latin... I bet Principal Snyder, may the Goddess have
mercy on his soul, wouldn't believe it, either... But it's no wonder,
considering the fact that I'm with *Doctor* Willow Danielle Rosenberg,
NASA chief astronaut and the first woman to ever set foot on Mars...
That's why I love you." Buffy said, suddenly serious. "All of you.
Especially that part..." She kissed the redhead's ear and nibbled on
her earlobe. "...and that part..." Buffy placed another kiss on the
back of Willow's head and inhaled the smell of her hair. "...and also
that part..." She then kissed her crewmate's neck, while her hand slid
up under her t-shirt and unclasped her spacebra...
("Willow Rosenberg will be wearing a spacebra on Mars. Spacebra, by
Victoria's Secret. Available in all lingerie stores around the
globe!")

**

Mission Control, Houston, TX -- A quarter of an hour later.

"What's up, Harris?"
Flight Director Roger Peterson knew the expression on his CAPCOM's
face all too well. He lazily went over to the console on the other
side of the mid aisle of NASA's Mission Control room, where Alexander
Lavelle Harris monitored voice communications with the Wizard of Oz.

Peterson reached for his mobile receiver, attached to his belt, and
switched to the crew channel. The sound of heavy breathing could be
heard in his headset, mixed with moaning and something that had to be
the sound of kissing...

"They're doing it, sir..." Xander reported.

"Again?" Petersen, for the umpteenth time, wondered what irony of
fate had made NASA decide to sent two women to Mars, instead of a man
und a woman, 'to prevent any counterproductive inter-crew
relationships,' only to end up with two lesbian astronauts going at it
every few hours.

"Must be the second time in the last twenty-four hundred hours," the
CAPCOM added.

"Did you...?" Petersen asked.

"I switched crew communications to the pre-recorded in-flight-check
rehearsal sequence 326, sir."

NASA used the latest million-dollar voice synthesizer equipment to
create hours of boring--and harmless--crew communications, for those
among the millions of TV watchers around the globe that weren't as
open-minded about the sexual relationship between two female
astronauts as others.

"Very good. Carry on," Petersen said. He switched to 'TV Out' on the
receiver at his belt.

"Position 23 on the MCC checklist: IMU on, PFS secured," Willow's
voice could he heard through his headset.

"Check. IMU on, PFS secured," Buffy answered...

**

Meanwhile, on their way to Mars, Buffy and Willow were determined to
continue their ongoing investigation to find out what making love in
weightlessness was really all about, and 150 million miles away from
home, flying at a speed of roughly fifty thousand miles per hour, the
Wizard of Oz silently sped through the eternal void towards their
destination, the red planet.


FADE TO BLACK